As Proprietor of CHADWELL SEEDS (Established in 1984) I offer an exceptional range of rarely available seed of rockery subjects, herbaceous perennials, climbers, shrubs and trees from various parts of the world for discerning and adventurous gardeners. The next MAIN catalogue is due in January 2015 (of FRESH 2014 harvested seed) but a JAPANESE SELECTION is available NOW.

HIMALAYAN PEONY (Paeonia emodi) - one of the choice plants available from Chadwell Seeds

TALKS/PRESENTATIONS

Chris has proven to be a popular and versatile public-speaker, having delivered hundreds of entertaining and informative lectures around the UK. His latest digital presentations appeal to garden clubs, specialist horticultural societies along with more general audiences such as National Trust Centres and U3A groups. He has undertaken lecture tours and speaking engagements in the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, France, Ireland and India. Audiences now regularly remark that the images he shows at his lectures are amongst the best they have ever seen.

Why not suggest him as a speaker to the programme secretary of a society you belong to?

Small groups near to his home in Langley (on the outskirts of Slough), who do not have the budget to pay his usual fee, can consider booking him to give a lively presentation about local WILD FLOWERS or the history of the CHADWELLS of IVER and district - in return for providing a lift and a collection afterwards towards one of the charities he supports.

Or why not book his youngest son, Joseph, to speak about Turkey, the natural history of Black and Langley Parks or the wild flowers of the North Yorkshire Moors and Snowdonia? But be sure to "catch him whilst you can", as he is only available until summer 2016. After that he will be studying at university. See:

SCIENTIFIC, CONSERVATION and EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS in the Himalaya and UK

In 2010 Chris established the FLOWERS FIT FOR A DALAI LAMA Plant Conservation Project,

offering long-term advice on the cultivation and identification of Himalayan plants used in

Through awards of the KOHLI MEMORIAL GOLD MEDAL, on behalf of the Himalayan Plant Association, recognition is brought to individuals (past and present-day), along with Institutions in the Himalaya, who have made a significant contribution to the study, cultivation or conservation of Himalayan flora. SEE: https://sites.google.com/a/chadwellseeds.co.uk/main/introduction-1

A good place to view a fine selection of Himalayan plants in cultivation is in the Sheffield Botanical Garden. Eric Lee, along with members of FOBS (Friends of the Botanical Garden, Sheffield) have established a HIMALAYAN GARDEN. See PLANTS GROWN FROM PREVIOUS EXPEDITIONS:

Chris' interests are not limited to Himalaya flora, he gives digital presentations to clubs and societies on WILD FLOWERS OF BRITAIN, is Botanical Recorder for Iver and District Countryside Association, compiling a photographic record of the flora - he is currently preparing a series of CDs showing the scenery and wild flowers which can be seen on walks around his local countryside, see: http://www.chadwellseeds.co.uk/introduction-4

TRAVEL CDs DOCUMENTING FLOWERS and PEOPLE

in the HIMALAYA and local walks in the UK

Chris has begun preparing CDs for sale covering the wild flowers, mountains, lakes, culture and peoples of the Himalaya and borderlands of Tibet. Given his familiarity with the region his first will be about KASHMIR, entitled 'PARADISE ON EARTH'. Others will follow covering Ladakh, Nepal and Lahoul. For further details SEE: https://sites.google.com/a/chadwellseeds.co.uk/main/buy-travel-cds

Chris has raised money over a period of more than twenty years for a number of organisations and charities operating in the Himalaya, particularly The Britain-Nepal Medical Trust (BNMT) and wishes to draw attention to others which he judges to be worth supporting.

Funds should be directed towards the best operating in the Himalaya, with a proven record.

The admirable sentiments of India's first prime minister after Independence in 1947, inscribed below his statue in Manali, Himachal Pradesh. The world would be a better place if every nation and individual citizen in the world, adopted such a philosophy.

Let me end with images of a cute Nepali girl (highly intelligent and full of enthusiasm for life - who was rightly unimpressed that whilst she could speak English, my Nepali was minimal) holding one of my business cards, whilst looking after her younger brother. Let us celebrate and help protect their charm and innocence. She and the people of Nepal deserve better in the future. We can do "our bit" by making sure aid monies are spent more effectively than they have been in the past.... Why not find out more about the ways I and others try to "put something back" in the Himalaya? Take a look at the different sections of this site and then help me or directly support charities I can recommend - which are genuine. I can be trusted, as a person of integrity. SO BE 'STREET-WISE' AND SUPPORT THE BEST CHARITIES AND PROJECTS WHICH HELP, AND AS THE BRITAIN-NEPAL MEDICAL TRUST STATES IN ITS LITERTAURE, "EMPOWER" THE PEOPLES OF THE HIMALAYA.....

Namaste from the girl's younger brother

PHOTOGRAPHS ON THIS WEB-SITE

Please note that I currently do not 'water-mark' the photos on this web-site, for aesthetic reasons nor do they carry an individual copyright notice. BUT they are MY photos (unless indicated otherwise and for those named photographers, they are shown 'on my behalf'). It is my expectation that EVERYONE viewing images on this site agrees to abide by this relaxed, old-fashioned approach. Permission MUST still be sought from me at: chrischadwell261@btinternet.com if you wish to utilise any of them in ANY way. In most cases I shall agree. I always TRY and behave as a gentleman, treating people with respect and trust others will do likewise.

If you look at the bottom of the right-hand side-bar, you will see which sections have been up-dated/amended recently. As an aid to those who visit the site regularly, I shall highlight the most note-worthy additions in recent months. Due to expedition commitments, both in the Himalaya and afterwards, along with peak interest in the Chadwell Seeds catalogue, autumn and winter months are the quietest for this web-site.

I have just received a copy of the September 2014 Newsletter of The Friends of the Botanical Gardens, Sheffield (FOBS) which includes photos of the official opening of the HIMALAYAN GARDEN at Sheffield Botanical Gardens including ones of me attired in 'Tibetan' garb - which has many specimens introduced from the Himalaya during Chadwell Expeditions, raised by Eric Lee, then planted out are cared for by FOBS volunteers and gardening staff; See:

I renewed my membership of the International Association for Ladakh Studies (IALS) and encourage those with an interest not just in Ladakh itself but also bordering districts such as Lahoul and the Kashmir Valley to support the work of this association by subscribing as well. Members receive an informative newsletter. See:

I was approached by the editor of the Scottish Rock Garden Club to help put to finishing touched to an article by the late Martin Carter, originally published in the first newsletter of the Himalayan Plant Association back in 1990, entitled FROM THE 'LAST PLACE ON EARTH' TO SCOTLAND, which is due to appear in the January 2015 issue of their journal. I shall draw further attention to this in due course.

When encouraging members of the Himalayan Plant Association to contribute articles to its journal, I was especially keen to get individuals to "put down on paper" their first impressions undertaking treks in the Himalaya for the first time and the "culture-shock" of encountering the Indian sub-continent. Nowadays, one can readily share images with accompanying captions or observations. I am particularly taken by John Willis' splendid photographs of his time in Kathmandu and during a short trek in the Nepalese foothills. See:

Lesley Turner sent more images of plants she has raised from seed allocated from expeditions to various parts of the Himalaya. I have selected some of the best including colourful shots of Arisaemas. She has also made available data-bases of detailed germination and subsequent cultivation records dating back to 2001. See:

We all applauded Malala Yousafzai becoming the youngest ever Noble Peace Prize laureate at the end of last year - please note that the prize was awarded jointly with Kailash Satyarthi from India, "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education" . She is known mainly for human rights advocacy for education and for women in her native Swat Valley. In some very small way I wish to express my support by drawing attention to the natural beauty of Swat. Given that International news tends to concentrate upon natural disasters and distressing events, let us, briefly at least, celebrate the beauty of this part of Pakistan. It is important to be positive in different ways......

I draw attention to an article about plants seed during a visit to Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh in the latest issue of the NORTH AMERICAN ROCK GARDEN SOCIETY (NARGS) Quarterly within the Introduction section to the HIMALAYAN PLANT ASSOCIATION See: http://www.chadwellseeds.co.uk/introduction-8 -

you will need to scroll down to reach this part.

I owe a considerable debt to NARGS, although never having been one of their official 'travelling speakers', its chapters have always formed the back-bone of my DIY-arranged lecture-tours, with numerous members hosting me and taking me out and about to visit gardens and see the sights. For more details about my tours see: http://www.chadwellseeds.co.uk/lecture-tours.

Fittingly, there are photos of Matt Matthus the society's new President. Within the BULLETIN BOARD of the issue above, FROM THE PRESIDENT, Matt expresses a charming request encouraging members to become more involved to help ensure the future of NARGS - and as he rightly says, "You say you don't have enough time? Believe me - no one understands the 'I'm already too busy' excuse more than I do. With my blog, a full time corporate position, and of course my garden, I barely have time to laundry, but I do all this because I care...". This is certainly true (having been hosted by Matt, albeit on that occasion non behalf of the AMERICAN PRIMROSE SOCIETY see; http://www.americanprimrosesociety.org/ ) and may I endorse such sentiments - I also CARE about what I do and likewise encourage more people to both continue and fresh ones to get more involved.

Another very busy American is Tony Reznicek, aided by his wife Susan. The Great Lakes Chapter of NARGS is hosting the 2015 AGM in Ann Arbor, Michigan in early May. His day job is as curator and Assistant Director of the University of Michigan Herbarium. (see: https://sites.google.com/a/chadwellseeds.co.uk/main/lecture-tours ). The Rezniceks have hosted me during two lecture tours which took in Michigan, indeed Tony drove me out to meet Dr Walter Koelz in 1986 - Walter, partnered by Thakur Rup Chand, had explored for plants, birds and seeds in the borderlands of Western Tibet in the 1930s. I was delighted to be able to return in 2011 to deliver a seminar at the University Michigan about the Himalayan Travels of Dr Koelz and present a posthumous KOHLI MEMORIAL GOLD MEDAL to the herbarium for his contribution to the study of the flora of the region (see: https://sites.google.com/a/chadwellseeds.co.uk/main/recipients ).

There are other connections with Ann Arbor, Dr Ralph Stewart wrote his 'HISTORY AND EXPLORATION OF PLANTS IN PAKISTAN AND ADJOINING AREAS', from which I have reproduced most of his account about the Swat Valley, Pakistan (see above), whilst working as a research associate in the Ann Arbor Herbarium. He went after 'retiring' from his position as Principal of the Gordon College, Rawalpindi. This herbarium houses the best set of modern-day specimens from Himachal Pradesh anywhere in the world. Collected during the 1930s - they are good quality with detailed accompanying field notes. So much of the material at other herbaria, albeit of historical and at times taxonomic significance as 'type' specimens, was gathered in the region in the 19th Century and is scrappy, poorly pressed, often with no more than a general location. Stewart was invited to Ann Arbor in the 1970s to sort, identify and have mounted and labelled the 30 thousand specimens collected by Koelz, Chand and other local collectors, which had been languishing for decades. Major UK herbaria such as Kew, the Natural History Museum and Edinburgh certainly boast more specimens from Himachal Pradesh but Ann Arbor's set is of the highest quality. What a pity that the duplicate specimens deposited at the Urusvati Institute at the Roerich Museum, Naggar, Kulu Valley, Himachal Pradesh have lain, untouched and neglected for some 80 years.... In these days of concerns about conservation, what better bench-mark to compare with present-day populations/distribution of species in the region, would be a well-curated set of specimens from the 1930s. And how is it possible to meaningfully publish present-day floras without reference to such specimens 20th Century specimens..... The situation is such a waste!

It makes sense for visitors to the Western Himalaya and borderlands of Western Tibet to acclimatise for a few days at 2000m or so, if they plan to be spending time at high altitude (4-5000m) and what better way for any visiting botanist than consulting specimens at a local herbarium conveniently located in the Himalayan foothills. No such University herbarium currently exists in Himachal Pradesh.

In these days of 'high-tech' laboratory science, such places might seem old-fashioned, indeed unnecessary (and we in the West have savagely cut funding to our herbaria, so are not leading by example) but without a functioning herbarium, combined with extensive field collections and surveys, it is impossible to RELIABLY assess the abundance (or not) of individual species. Not a lot of use proclaiming particular species are 'RARE or ENDANGERED' if such claims cannot be backed up with solid evidence. IF the world is serious about conservation, action needs to be taken, as a matter of urgency. I offer my services as a consultant and unique level of experience to any government or private organisations keen to address the problem.

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I began lecturing 30 years ago and have seen a general trend of dropping memberships of the vast majority of gardening and horticultural societies (though the growth of organisations such as the UNIVERSITY OF THE THIRD AGE [U3A] is encouraging - some groups have a thousand members, with GARDEN INTEREST sub-groups with healthy numbers, which most garden clubs cannot match. See: http://www.u3a.org.uk/. The demise of clubs and societies, no matter topic/subject they cover is a great loss to the British way of life. There have even been cases when groups with literally hundreds of members which closed due to a lack of willingness to serve on committees. As with village life, when shops, post offices and pubs close, the atmosphere changes. Yes, many people can afford a fine home but retreating behind locked gates anxious about security, spending too much time on-line or mobile-phone, is a shame. Getting involved benefits not just individual societies but communities - and it is enjoyable and rewarding. We all help and contribute in different ways. Help others - one day someone may help you.....

I have just received a copy of the January 2015 issue of THE ROCK GARDEN (Journal of the Scottish Rock Garden Club) which contains an article by the late Martin Carter, entitled FROM THE 'LAST PLACE ON EARTH' TO SCOTLAND. Martin was a founder and enthusiastic member of the Himalayan Plant Association, to whom I owe a considerable debt. See: https://sites.google.com/a/chadwellseeds.co.uk/main/recent-articles